NATO fighters from Belgium yesterday began patrolling the airspace of former Soviet republics for the first time yesterday, shortly after USPresident Bush marked the accession of seven Eastern European countries into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation at a ceremony in Washington. Conor O'Clery, reports from New York
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Washington that the admission of the three former Soviet republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, should not cause friction with Russia. The decision to begin NATO air patrols along Russian borders with the Baltic states had been fully explained to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he said.
Mr Lavrov is expected to attend a second accession ceremony admitting the seven new members at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday. "At this very moment fighters are in the air to land at Lithuania airport very shortly," Mr de Hoop Scheffer said.
He claimed Russia understood that NATO had "no ulterior motives" in policing the Baltic airspace and that NATO and Russia shared an interest in developing a strong partnership.
Lithuanian Air Force Commander Edvardas Maziaikis said in Siauliai , Lithuania, yesterday that four of NATO's F-16 fighters would start patrolling the airspace of the Baltic states immediately, according to the Russian Itar Tass news agency.
The Belgian fighters landed on Zokniai's military airfield in Lithuania yesterday morning, the first day of NATO membership. Russia, however, expressed renewed concern about NATO expansion as Mr Bush welcomed the prime ministers of the seven new members to the White House.
"Without doubt, NATO's expansion touches Russia's political, military and, to a certain extent, economic interests," said Russia's foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, who also protested that agreed reforms in NATO to reduce troops and armaments were happening "slowly and haphazardly".
The seven prime ministers lodged instruments of accession to the 55-year-old NATO alliance at the State Department yesterday, bringing NATO up to 26 member countries. Mr Bush also greeted the prime ministers of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, which have applied for membership.
"As NATO acts to face the new challenges of the 21st century, the membership of these seven nations in NATO will advance the cause of freedom, and strengthen the Atlantic Alliance, the central pillar of transatlantic relations," the White House said. "These central and east European democracies have already acted as allies through their strong solidarity and actions in the war on terrorism, and in helping to strengthen peace and democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq."
The move could increase involvement of the new members in Iraq later in the year. "Afghanistan is the immediate priority," a State Department official said last week. "In Iraq, as sovereignty is transferred to the Iraqi people this summer, NATO should consider options for a broader role."